The reluctant nun

Some interesting birthdays today. On November 10, 1433, Charles the Bold (or the Rash) was born; he was the husband of Margaret of York and reluctantly gave refuge to Edward and Richard when they were forced to flee England. He has the dubious distinction of being the only great prince to be eaten by wolves; after his death at the siege of Nancy in 1477, by the time his body was found, it had been partially devoured by animals. He appears in one scene of Sunne and I am sure he is a character in Anne Easter Smith’s novel about Margaret, Daughter of York.

On November 10, 1480, Bridget, the youngest daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville was born. She was sent to Dartford Priory to become a nun in 1487 at the painfully young age of seven years. When I was checking her birth date on Wikipedia, I discovered something fascinating, something that was definitely not known when I wrote Sunne three decades ago. Apparently Bridget was a reluctant nun, for she may have had an illegitimate daughter in 1498, Agnes of Eltham. I know Wikipedia can be hit or miss, but they do cite a new history of the Plantagenets as the source. As I’ve often explained, I could not keep up on Ricardian research if I wanted to write other novels. Anyone who is more current on Ricardiana than me know anything about Bridget and Agnes? We certainly know there were many unwilling nuns in the MA, girls sequestered at an early age like Bridget or Gwenllian, others compelled by family to take vows to in squabbles over inheritances, some who were compelled by circumstances or sudden poverty. The histories mention runaway nuns. This case seems unusual in that if it is true, Bridget had her baby while still a nun and continued to remain a nun until her death. Being a king’s daughter and the sister of Elizabeth of York probably played a role in her more lenient treatment. But wouldn’t we love to know more about all this?

On November 10, 1483, Martin Luther was born, to the grief of popes everywhere. And although it is not medieval, on November 10, 1566, Robert Devereaux, the Earl of Essex was born, to the subsequent grief of Elizabeth I.